Edinburgh dayschool: building working class resistance to capitalism and racism

Edinburgh Anarchist Federation invite you to a day of discussion on contemporary anarchist and communist strategy and organisation. Focusing on practical experience of organising above abstract theory we want as many people as possible to come together on November 30th.

In the aftermath of the largest economic crisis in decades and the collapse across the world of the legitimacy and membership of social-democratic parties, the opportunity should exist for a re-emergence of the communist movement. Despite this, we remain marginal, disorganised and lacking in strategic direction. The left remains in thrall to outdated ideas and tactics unable to adapt to current conditions, to offer any effective opposition to neoliberal attacks or build the organisations necessary for working class power and autonomy.

Too often self-described revolutionaries and communists meet only to discuss abstract theories or to analyse historical events, divorced from any material relation to current struggles in the UK, and unwilling to consider new organisational methods. This gathering aims to be different. We want to discuss practically how we create a culture of resistance and organisation in our own workplaces and communities, to smash the growing threat of fascism and racism from the EDL to the UKBA.

Though we remain weak at present, reasons for optimism do exist, from the wave of spontaneous workplace occupations and wildcat strikes in 2009 to the student movement of 2010, the arrival of the anti-fascist network as a serious, militant alternative to the UAF, the innovation of the pop-up union at Sussex university and the growth of solidarity networks. We want to draw out the successes and failures of these nascent formations and consider where we go from here. Do these ideas offer the basis for a new workers movement or another dead end? We invite everyone who opposes capitalism and fascism to present any ideas and discuss the future of our movement.